Neil Gaiman Hit with Rape & Trafficking Lawsuits; Spouse Also Named – Deadline
By Dominic Patten Executive Editor, Legal, Labor & Politics
After months of horrific allegations of sexual misconduct, The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman has been taken to court in a trio of states on allegations of rape, human trafficking and more by a former New Zealand nanny of his and musician Amanda Palmer’s son.
“This claim arises out of Defendant Neil Gaiman’s sexual abuse of Plaintiff, and his wife Amanda Palmer’s role in procuring and presenting Plaintiff to Gaiman for such abuse,” states a rape and human trafficking complaint filed in federal court Monday in Wisconsin by Scarlett Pavlovich. “Gaiman has a decades-long history of sexual misconduct consistent with the actions that will be described in the following paragraphs,” the 28-page nine claim action adds, with vivid detail including a sodomy rape of “slave” Pavlovich by Gaiman just three years ago.
Seeking at least $1 million and a jury trial, the case’s details align with the deeply researched New York Magazine “There Is No Safe Word”piece by Lila Shapiro from earlier this year and the allegations made by Pavlovich and seven different women against Gaiman. That New York Magazine article drew from Tortoise Media’s six-part podcast Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman from last summer.
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In a January 14 blog post, after the Shapiro penned piece came out, Gaiman wrote: “As I reflect on my past – and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged – I don’t accept there was any abuse. To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.”
Having said that, the no longer CAA-repped Gaiman recently has been dropped by his UK agent Casarotto Ramsay & Associates’ client list, as my colleague Jake Kanter exclusively reported last week. Additionally, Anansi Boys publisher Dark Horse Comics has dropped the once-acclaimed scribe, and a UK stage production of Coraline was canceled in the last days of January. As allegations against Gaiman grew, Season 3 of Amazon Prime Video‘s Good Omens was scaled back to a 90-minute episode and Disney paused production on its big screen adaptation of The Graveyard Book.
RELATED: Dark Horse Comics Drops Neil Gaiman Following Sexual Assault Allegations; Cancels ‘Anansi Boys’ Comics
On January 31, Netflix revealed that the upcoming second season of the much viewed The Sandman will be the last, with a proposed Season 3 now DOA.
Dresden Dolls co-founder Palmer, who separated from Gaiman during the pandemic and her and their son’s lockdown in New Zealand, and said in November 2022 that the couple were divorcing after more than a decade of marriage. To that, Palmer posted this on her usually active Instagram page three weeks ago as the allegations against the Good Omens showrunner intensified:A post shared by Amanda Palmer 🎹 (@amandapalmer)
Along with the midwestern state, where American Gods author and TV series EP Gaiman has a home, filings were submitted in New York, and Massachusetts by Pavlovich’s NYC-based Kamerman Uncyk Soniker & Klein P.C. lawyers with Palmer as the defendant.
Pavlovich and her attorneys claim that Palmer knew how vulnerable the plaintiff was mentally and economically and essentially led her into the lion’s den.
“Palmer was sufficiently aware that Gaiman was likely to target Scarlett, that she warned Gaiman to stay away from Scarlett before she brought Scarlett to Gaiman’s house as a babysitter,” the Empire State and New England state filings declare of the initial encounters with the openly open marriage Gaimans in the southwestern Pacific Ocean country and the early 2022 job offer. “Yet Palmer never warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman. Had Palmer warned Scarlett of the known danger posed by Gaiman, Scarlett would never have agreed to babysit Palmer’s child at Gaiman’s house.”
In that context, the reasoning behind the multi-state filing is all about residency.
“Upon information and belief, jurisdiction over Palmer is appropriate in either New York or Massachusetts, and Palmer may consent to jurisdiction in Wisconsin. Given the uncertainty regarding Palmer’s state of residence, Plaintiff is simultaneously filing actions against Palmer in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Massachusetts and will proceed against Palmer only in the district of her choosing.”
Full disclosure: New York Magazine is owned by Vox Media, which Deadline’s parent company PMC has had an ownership stake in since 2023.Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
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Source: http://deadline.com/2025/02/neil-gaiman-rape-lawsuits-amanda-palmer-filings-1236277339/
